Friday, October 29, 2010

AFA X

more information is slowly being released in the AFA main web but for advance ticket purchasing, it's still not released yet.

currently, what they have released for the normal tickets, is that you could purchase them during the festival itself and also during the friday right before AFA starts (what they did list is for Sunday's ticket that can be purchased on 12/13 Nov)

2 more weeks! :D

The World God Only Knows 4

Asuka Sora, the first heroine that poses a real challenge to Katsuragi Keima. The only difference now for Sora is that she isn't the next carrier of an escaped spirit, but a game heroine in a bishoujo game. "Would you look at my painting?" Sora's words tied Keima's pride on the line, to finish the game at all cost. Sacrificing his head and suffering wounds, Keima used all the time he had in the lessons to attempt to clear the game, but in the end, he couldn't and was so demoralised to the point to apologise to Sora herself and his pride was totally beaten. Elsea couldn't understand him as he was the Capturing God after all. Keima then showed her the true difficulty of the game:

...
...
"Would you look at my painting?"

Having picked yes, the same sentence reappears, picking no, it repeats again.

The true difficulty of the game lies in the BUG that the game contains. Elsea wondered why Keima still wanted to continue playing such a game but Keima has his pride on the line and to him, the heroines aren't at fault at all and it was the game which is at fault. Keima thus vows to save the girl at all costs. He drags Elsea off to the rooftop where together, they will record every single choice that they make, in hope of bypassing the infinite loop. When Keima chose a different option from the past, a hell lot of options appeared as it was a choice on food in the cafeteria. Addtionally, the game cannot be saved and have to be restarted if they encounter the loop again. Elsea tries to leave but was held back Keima who forces her to help. Hours passes and Keima was still unable to bypass the loop. In the night, Elsea then suggests to Keima to look for the producers of the team instead but Keima tells her that the company has already closed down and the people that were responsible for the infinite loop file had also disappeared. Everyone had given up on the game and it was now up to him to save Sora once and for all. And then, after making more wrong choices and finally:

"Would you look at my painting?"
(picking yes)
"Thank You!"

the loop has been broken and Keima was now elated on what he had just achieved. Having finally bypassed the loop, Keima thought that he could already see the end, until a screen full of gibberish letters and symbols appears. Having prepared to encounter more bugs after the infinite loop, Keima vows again never to give up and to clear the game at all cost.

In the epilogue, it was shown that another otaku had browsed on the information of the game and there was a text that says "only one person has claimed to have seen the ending but not many choose to believe it"

Amazingly, they decided to put a kinda filler chapter to be animated. And the timeline for the chapters are mixed up, since after this would come Kusunoki. Nonetheless, it was a rather well-made episode but having such "fillers" near the start isn't really such a good choice. Following the manga would be much better :)

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

To Aru Majutsu no Index II 3

Aineze briefs Touma and the others on the infiltration of the Amakusa members; and she also declares that she would never forgive anyone who uses their authority of a church to perform such acts. Stiyl leads Touma and Index away, informing them that Kanzaki Kaori has disappeared and cannot be contacted. Her current location is unknown, regardless of whether she was helping her fellow Amakusa members. Touma then chooses another priority, rescuing Ursula. Stiyl then agrees to Touma's decision since Ursula was just a cipher for "Liber Al vel Aegis" and without her, "Liber Al vel Aegis" would just be an useless treasure. The diversion for the Amakusa begins and Stiyl, Index and Touma heads to rescue Ursula. Heading to her location, the trio is quickly ambushed by members of the Amakusa. Stiyl hands the cross he obtained from the archbishop to Touma and asks him to keep it if he wants to survive. Stiyl then escapes with Index with a spell he casted and Touma was yet again, the decoy for the members. Luckily, he was able to avoid the Amakusa but had tripped over a metal can, revealing his location to one of the members of the Amakusa. Alone, he was able to fend her off and took her sword away. Touma quickly ran into Ursula, who was binded and muted by spells, and releases her with his Imagine Breaker. Ursula asks if Touma was with the Roman Catholics or with the Anglican Church and felt relieved for him when she knows he does not belong to any. Touma then asks about the "Liber Al vel Aegis", which Ursula reveals about how she's trying to decipher the "Liber Al vel Aegis" to find a way to destroy the book. Ursula then request Touma to help her wear the cross Stiyl handed to him and before they could continue their conversation, Stiyl falls and is injured by the leader of the current Amakusa forces, Tatemiya Saiji. Touma doesn't want to engage Saiji but was soon forced to do so but even with his Imagine Breaker, he isn't able to get past his spells, which Index had forewarned that it wasn't actually magic at all. Stiyl starts to call forth his flaming sword and attempts to charge at Saiji. Touma calls for Stiyl to ignore him and stabs through him, Stiyl does so and with Imagine Breaker denying both the flame sword and Saiji's magic resistance, Touma is able to land a punch on Saiji and with Stiyl, the both of them manage to capture Tatemiya Saiji. Saiji is tied and "sealed" with Stiyl's magic cards, and he starts to attack Touma with his influential words. He tells Touma if he really think Ursula would be safe with the Roman Catholics. He adds on that the Roman Catholics were planning to take Ursula's life instead to prevent the "Liber Al vel Aegis" from being deciphered and had used the disappearance of "Liber Al vel Aegis" as a "disguise" to capture Ursula and silence her in secret. Saiji continues to tell Touma that the Amakusa plans to protect her with the pride of their priestess, Kanzaki Kaori. Touma still didn't believe Saiji's words and doubted her, similarly to Ursula, who had doubted Saiji as well. Touma's decision however starts to waver when he hears Ursula's scream and was then asked by Saiji to take Ursula away from the Roman Catholics and the Amakusa and bring her to somewhere safe. Members of the Anieze forces, Sister Lucia and Sister Angelene, arrives to obtain custody of Tatemiya Saiji. Touma asks her if he could see Ursula again and had tapped Sister Lucia on her shoulder and with that, he accidentally incurred her wrath since he was a non-believer and attacked Touma with flaming wheel, injuring Touma in the process. Angelene also intercepts Index but was negated by Spell Interceptor, which was casted by Index. Touma now begins to really doubt his decision made after the Roman Catholics leave the scene.

Plot development is in a good pace, doubts rising from the Roman Catholics, and the unknown "Liber Al vel Aegis". Saiji's words do have an impact on Touma (and on me as well). Stiyl is pathetically weak ._____. what's with his sword that even need incantations? == spell casters with incantations, super long ones, does seem useless... Kanzaki's presence remains unknown, with the Amakusa or not still remains as a mystery. Drawings kinda weird this episode, just seems rather different from the others. What exactly is the cross the Archbishop handed to Stiyl and now to Ursula is still another mystery. Arc seems nice too, waiting for Accelerator to appear again :)

MM! 4

The new tactic for curing Taro's masochism was now of the "Power of Love" . With that, Mio now becomes Taro's lover and their first date is planned by Michiru-sensei, for the worst. And so the date begins, with Michiru-sensei giving Taro guidelines for the lane and soon, with Taro receiving a direct kick in the face. Apparently, he revealed how long he had actually waited when Mio asks him, where he should have replied, typically, "actually i just got here as well". The symptoms of masochism appeared immediately with that kick and with Mio handing her hand to Taro, he merely touched her hand and left. Being pissed off by him, Mio grabs Taro's hand and leaves with him, acting like a real couple. Mio had initally forgotten about where they should go next but soon heads off to the park. In the park, the duo seats on the mat and Mio took out the food that she made, which Taro deems as "dangerous" to begin with. He then spot plasters on Mio's hand and asks her if she was alright and that she need not put in so much effort on this date. However, the plasters were just for show to "trick" Taro into worrying for Mio and when Taro really did tried her food and appreciated it, Mio felt embarrassed and started stuffing food into Taro. The next step was to walk around in the park where they stop for some ice-cream and with some of the cream on Mio's face, Taro receives a guideline call from Michiru-sensei, telling him to wipe it off for her. Taro took her advice and got done with the task, "raising" Mio's affection by a notch and everything seems to be a bishoujo-game prepared by Michiru-sensei. Moving on to the next location, while Taro was wondering if Mio was also nervous with her face being red, a cross-dressed Hayama appears with his cocky attitude, belittling Mio's figure and small frame. He then continues the taunting by grabbing Taro over and even almost plant a kiss onto him. Mio was utterly surprised at the development and suspected them of having forbidden love which Taro denies. Hayama doesn't give up on Taro since it was all Michiru-sensei's plan and was ultimately "forcefully" sent off. At the theme park, the duo went onto the ferris wheel and Michiru-sensei gave her next guideline, which was to let Mio rest on Taro's lap and then talk about what they like about each other. Mio follows suit to the instructions and was embarrassed when Taro says that he likes how she loves to help other people and was cute too, but Mio couldn't really find something she "likes" about Taro. After Hayama, the next person they encounter is Yuno, who "declares" that she'll be taking Taro away. Both Mio and Yuno then resulted in a tug-of-war, with Taro in the center, feeling absolute bliss with each of his arm being tied to a rope and being pulled by two bishoujos. Mio couldn't last long and Taro went to Yuno's side, "activating" her automatic repelling male system and Taro got sent off into the sky. Soon after, Mio bends down and started spitting out red liquid, which was obviously just tomato juice but playing by the storyline, Taro is given two choices from Michiru-sensei with Mio having contracted a terminal illness and can't live long, and he chose the option of marrying her now. Taro is immediately captured after he chose the option and was brought to the church where he finally gets to see the cunning Michiru-sensei and she tells him that the date was actually for Mio instead and then leaves when Mio arrives in a bridal costume. Following the ceremony, Mio took advances and gave Taro her first kiss which he then stops her soon after. He turns out to be angry instead and asks why would Mio kiss a person like him and that a kiss is something important that can only be given to someone that he or she loves. Mio was however hoping to cure his masochism and took the sacrifice but it resulted in Taro storming off in the end. Mio tried to stop him but collapses and it turns out she had a high fever ever since the date started, explaining why she had forgotten about the locations they should have gone and her face looking red. Taro carries her and runs to the nearest hospital in the rain, pestering Mio on why she had placed her life on the line trying to help him. From being carried, Mio manage to see a serious side of Taro and declares that she likes the part of him giving his all when it concerns someone else and important to him. The duo then arrives in the hospital with Michiru-sensei who reveals to Taro that Mio couldn't socialise well and had hoped that the date would change her by a little. Taro then stayed on in the hospital to look after Mio and when Mio had fully recovered, she asks Taro to close his eyes again which he anticipates another kiss but it was a heavy blow to the face and his masochism is yet to be cured. Mio concludes that the "Power of Love" is ineffective and gave Taro a beaming smile.

definitely, a Mio and Taro pairing is indeed special and interesting. i wouldn't doubt if they could get together in the end, they seem good together :) overall, it was a cute little date and things did progressed fast from walking along the streets to vomiting tomato juice to marriage and a kiss. As an important first kiss, Mio doesn't seem to have taken it into account but Taro did, this might also hint to a start of their cute little relationship. Seriously, there is something wrong with Hayama's attitude, cross-dressing and having that attitude to boot definitely entices a point blank blow to his face. (Not that he's actually bad)The climax with Taro carrying Mio and running to the hospital in the rain was sweet too. Cute little episode and a moving end! :)

Sunday, October 24, 2010

took 3 and a half days to complete this (not the entire day too...) had a reference and did a sketch :)



editted the tones slightly on the comp to show more concrete shadings

The World God Only Knows 3

Keima overhears the conversation in Mio's apartment, where it was disclosed that she was once a rich individual but apparently her father's death took that identity away from her. Mio doesn't seem to have accepted her father's passing too as she'd never opened the cupboard with her father's photo. Her chauffeur, not being able to take her attitude of pretending to be still rich and buying such a large amount of bread, he leaves and drives off. Mio, while trying to stop him, steps out and is shocked to see Keima outside her apartment. Knowing that he had definitely overheard their conversation, Mio flustered and told him to go away before heading back to the apartment. Elsea, having seen Keima being told off again, assumes that it was a bad impression given but Keima says otherwise. With a secret shared now between them, it's bound to work out nicely. The next day, Mio's chauffeur didn't turn up and Keima attempted to take his place instead, offering to be her chauffeur with a bicycle. Mio refuses to get on the old and cheap crap and Elsea changes the bicycle to a carriage. Not being able to walk properly with her high heels, she took Keima's offer to bring her to school. This had to continue for the next few days where Elsea just keeps making the carriage more extravagant, and more heavy in the process. It was until a point where Keima was totally powerless to move the carriage and Mio tried to force him to move, smiling genuinely in the process. She however stops playing with him and leaves after realising something and Keima thought that it was probably something important. Keima then goes to her apartment's letter slot and sees an invitation to a party for the rich, and tells Elsea that he can already see the ending. The next day after school, Keima arrives with another carriage, bringing Mio this time, to the party and even prepared a dress for her. Keima had also got into his own suit and requested Mio to teach him how to dance in the backyard of the party. While the two began to dance, several others from the party spots Mio and started belittling her and pretending to feel sorry for her father's passing. Mio's father had always been caring towards her, supporting her in any ways and then Keima cuts in, telling Mio if that was the world she wanted to return to, or to stay here in this place with him, he also adds on that he wanted to see more of Mio smiling genuinely similarly in the past. Mio flustered and hit Keima on the face, calling him a liar, and that ever since he appeared, the place in her heart where her father was, was getting smaller. Keima advances yet again to ask her to choose between them or him and then initiates a kiss, forcing the escaped spirit out and Elsea had obtained their second runaway spirit. The memories of the capture disappeared again and this time, Mio had acknowledged her father's passing and was now willing to use small change as well.

a 2nd runaway spirit sealed and 2 more to go for the series. the scene where Keima actually described that a secret shared between them would be beneficial was totally random... yet another capture in one single episode. 2 more to go and roughly 9 more episodes (as hinted from the OP), unless the OP changes which is unlikely. Heard somewhere too that the 2nd season for this series has already been green-lit, will reconfirm this info again. the capture this time was sweet too, and with more and more captures, Keima could have his perception changed on 3D girls but most importantly, it was the captured girls who had lost their memories, who had changed for the better

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

MM! 1/2/3



here's just a big wrap up to start the ball rolling for MM!

the series is set with our main protagonist, Taro Sado, who has a problematic fetish for assaults from women, masochism for short. Apparently, Taro is having trouble keeping such fetish of his as a secret and there was also a girl whom he likes at his workplace, and he gets to see her from time to time. In hope of curing such a problem, Taro heads for the "Second Volunteer Club", who assists students in need of help. In the club, he meets Mio Isurugi, who was the head of the club and tends to him nicely. However, just as he was about to talk about his problem, he sees Arashiko Yuno, a cute classmate of his class, coming in to the club as well. Not wanting to embarrass himself, he attempts to leave but is grabbed back by a now-pissed-off Mio. When being hit by her, Taro's problem took effect and he was now feeling bliss, while being attacked by Mio. She then tells him that she'll try her best to cure him of his problem. Leaving the school with his best friend, Tatsukichi Hayama, he talks about the girl whom he sees at work and have a certain feelings for her. During work, Taro sees the girl again but this time, she was afraid to start a conversation with Taro and walks away. Next day in school, the "masochism-removal" plan comes into play and Taro is being targeted by Mio and her violent baseballs. Taro was then sent to the infirmary with his injuries and after accidentally touching his classmate, Arashiko Yuno, he nearly lost his life after getting beat up by her. After all the fuss, all Taro could feel was true happiness and curing his problem would take a rather long time indeed. At work again, this time Taro confronts the girl he likes and follows her out. When he tries to stop her from running away, the moment he grabs her hand, she turned over and hit him on his head. Surprised at how his masochism did not take effect, the girl in front of him revealed himself to be actually Tatsukichi Hayama, his best friend who has a problem of loving cross-dressing. He had previously went to look for Mio as well to seek help on how to reveal his identity to Taro and had decided to do so after receiving suggestions from Mio and indirectly from Taro as well. And with that, Taro realises that his first love was actually with a guy. Meeting Mio later, Taro thanks her for helping both him and his friend from overcoming his difficulty and Mio is pleased to have been able to help.

The next big plan for Taro was to place him in boiling water in hope of removing his masochism by making him feel more intense pain from external sources. It didn't turn out rather well and was hit by Yuno when he leaped out from his cauldron. In the train station after school, Taro sees Yuno waiting for the train as well but was reluctant to step into the same train as her after being hit so many times when they encounter each other. Surprisingly, Yuno wasn't entering the train as well, after seeing how packed it was with all the passengers and headed to sit down while waiting for more trains to pull into the station. Taro heads to the seats as well and starts a conversation with Yuno. She apparently doesn't want Taro to sit close to her and then decided to talk from the distance. Yuno reveals to Taro that she has androphobia and is afraid of men. She would literally "retaliate" when a man touches her, which was exactly what had happened to Taro in the past. After alighting, Yuno starts to link Taro with a dog, called Taro as well, and became less afraid of Taro after that and conversations starts to become more natural between them. Before Yuno enters her home, she asks Taro if he could help her study on the upcoming tests and he agreed, and brought his friend, Tatsukichi Hayama, cross-dressed, to aid her in her studies and to prevent her androphobia from taking effect again. Mio does see potential in the cross-dressing quality of Hayama and after praising her, Hayama's personality took a drastic change and became all high up and belittled Mio, and thus rewarded with a direct punch in the face. After the test's been done, Mio tells everyone that they're all heading for the zoo with the tickets she have and as Yuno loves animals, they decided to meet up the next day to have fun in the zoo. When Taro woke up late do to his family members (who have a fetish for him...), he sees that he was the first to have arrived and Yuno soon came along. The both of them then receives a call each from the other members of the club, telling them that they were the only two going into the zoo and with their two different problems, it would be interesting and good to see how they can complement each other since they're rather similar. After having all the fun in the zoo and resting afterwards, Taro, while holding his drink in his hand, asks Yuno what exactly had caused her androphobia. He had decided to ask her directly as Mio suggested and Yuno slowly reveals about its origin. When she was in middle school, she had many boys going after her and she had rejected all of them, until a well-known senpai came looking for her and after going out together, he tries to force himself on her, causing Yuno to scratch his face while trying to protect herself which then caused him to take revenge on retaliating, and ultimately, causing her to develop androphobia. After hearing all these, Taro felt angered and crushed the cup that he was holding immediately. After heading home together, the duo meets Yuno's best friend, Mamiya Yumi.

Mamiya Yumi, a girl who have a slight fetish for cute gal's bod, decided that Yuno would be transferring with her to an all girls school to avoid her androphobia. After school the next day, Taro begins to ponder over the time they spent in the zoo and the secrets that Yuno had, speculating around her androphobia. The following day, the excited Yumi decides to follow Yuno to school to see what kind of person Mio was actually and her symptoms started again after seeing how cute she was and started her deadly massaging skill. An embarrassed Mio asks Taro to help her but was immediately taken out by Yumi and he, at that moment, felt total bliss again. Yumi then had a formal talk with Mio about Yuno transferring school but Mio asks Yumi if she thinks of it as a solution to Yuno's androphobia and adds on that they're some things that can only be done in the second volunteering club. Returning home that day, Yuno is confronted by her old senpai, Yoshioka. At that moment, Hayama did spot Yuno as well but was unaware of her situation. The next day, Yuno didn't appear in school and everyone was worried about her. Further phone calls were still unable to reach her and after realising the fact that she could have met with Yoshioka, Taro calls Hayama to reaffirm his suspicion and heads to Yuno's home. He sees her all covered up in her bed and her room as in a mess. After persuading her that it was Taro in front of her, Yuno shed light that Yoshioka had repeatedly threatened her with calls to stop her from spreading what happened in junior high. After hearing what Yoshioka had did again, Taro this time, rushes out of the house and goes off to confront Yoshioka. He tells Yoshioka that he had heard of what he had did to Yuno and is pissed off by that. The conversation soon broke into a fight but as Yoshioka is in the boxing club, Taro didn't even have the opportunity to return his blows and was acting as a boxing bag for him. Fortunately for Taro's masochism, he's able to withstand much more damage then he normally receives and with a final blow that he could throw, he lands a hit flat in Yoshioka's face with a baseball bat thrown at his leg, forcing him to lower his body and landing a hit. Yoshioka lay unconscious on the floor and with the baseball bat, he realises that Mio had helped in and had not stepped in earlier after seeing how serious he was. Yumi arrived at the scene as well and gave Yoshioka a hell massage. Taro returns to Yuno's home, with his face all bandaged up, and hands a photo of a embarrassingly stripped and beaten up Yoshioka. Yuno discovers the origins of his injury and thanks Taro for everything that he has done for her. The next day, Yumi had apparently transferred into their school as well so as to get closer to Yuno and also to prevent Taro from getting too close with her.

MM! is definitely a promising series and had an interesting start and setting with the different characters having their own personal problems. Other than the leading role of the club, i begin to wonder what significant role could Mio play near the end of the series. Moving this series to romance would be interesting but that would depend on how things turn out. Taro X Yuno pairing would be highly possible, but a Taro X Mio pairing would be interesting. Their 3rd episode did bear much resemblance to Ookami-san. The setting is similar with a bad senpai boyfriend screwing the maiden's life up. And a hero with a personal problem starts going all cool and defeats the bad boy. Similar ain't it? Interesting interesting series... would definitely continue with this :)

Sunday, October 17, 2010

i apologise for the rather late updates for Fall 2010, lots of things crammed up these few days, will try and get MM! and Bakuman updated as soon as i can =X

Sunday, October 17, 2010

To Aru Majutsu no Index 1/2

Term break was about to end and Touma has yet to finish his assignments, probably being too caught up with all the ruckus with the mages. Index however wants Touma to spend more time playing with her and even tries to "brainwash" him into doing that through acting like an innocent looking sister. While in the midst of all this, a mysterious magician, by the name of Yamisaka Ouma, appears in Academy City and is eyeing for Index. He arrives at Touma's apartment and uses his crossbow to summon a vortex of wind to push him up, allowing him to have a direct shot into Touma's room. Fortunately, Touma and Index have already left the house, heading for a family restaurant where Index would be kept occupied and Touma would be able to get his assignments done. Ouma however quickly discover Touma and Index's location and fires a spell right into the restaurant. A quick reaction of Imagine Breaker protected him but his assignments got burnt as a result. Ouma then takes Index hostage and escapes with her. Touma is then left to try and find Index and tries to call her cellphone. It turns out that Ouma had wanted to save someone who is important to him who was cursed and he hopes to use a book that Index has in her mind to save her. He ties Index up and prepares to enter her mind with a spell set on the roof of a building which Index warns him that it could cost him his life but he doesn't care about endangering him life. Index later picks up her cell but does not answer it, allowing Touma to listen to the conversation between Index and Ouma. While trying to locate them, Touma bumps into Mikoto who feels agitated at Touma for ignoring her and later blushes and stammered when Touma confronts her close to her face. Touma leaves and quickly discover where Index was with bright lights from a building prompting the spell has been set there. In the end, reading the book from Index's collection proved to be lethal and when Touma arrives, Ouma had already fallen to his own injuries. He tries to throw another spella at Touma but was quickly negated by Imagine Breaker. Not being able to launch another spell, Ouma collapses. Touma wakes him up after that after sending him some scratches with Sphinx and asks Ouma to bring him to the person he wants to save instead as he believes his Imagine Breaker would be able to break the curse.

The archbishop of Necessarius, Laura Stewart, talks to Stiyl about the magic book, "Liber Al vel Aegis". which can no longer be deciphered, even Index couldn't decipher it. She then reveals that there is someone who can decipher it, a sister named Ursula Aquinas. And now, both the book and the sister have disappeared. Back in Academy City, Index is bored and begins talking to Maika, questioning Touma's lack of time to play with her when apparently there's a combined sports meet coming up and everyone would be able to use their abilities to their full potential as a form of experiment. Stiyl then appears and takes Index away, leaving a note behind to Maika. Upon reaching his own home, Maika calls out for Touma and hands him the note, which tells him to come to an abandoned theatre outside of Academy City if he values Index's life. Further questioning made it clear to Touma who had exactly taken Index, there was no way he couldn't remember someone with blazing red hair and having a barcode below his right eye. Stiyl briefs Index about the situation and she's aware of the culprits, the ones she calls the Amakusa. Kanzaki Kaori, who's part of the Amakusa, is currently in an unknown location and Laura hints Stiyl that if the situation arises, he might have to fight her. Touma then heads for the abandoned theatre and midway, he sees a sister who asks him directions to Academy City. She was however a little difficult to comprehend and when Touma asks for her reason for heading to Academy City, she reveals to Touma that she was currently being pursued. Back in the theatre, a sister, Anieze Sanctis, meets up with Stiyl and Index. She tells Stiyl that they're currently unable to comprehend what type of magic the Amakusa actually uses, Index also adds on that the spells that they use do not contain recognisable spell circles and are mostly camouflaged as just normal everyday activities. Touma and the sister then arrives at the theatre and Stiyl reveals to him that he had needed his help in searching for someone but it was all done now, as they were searching for Ursula Aquinas, who is the sister that Touma had encountered and brought with him. Within minutes, the group receives a message from the Amakusa, telling Ursula to come to them. The floor then disappears beneath Ursula, with Amakusa members taking her away, Stiyl's spell couldn't make it in time as well. As the sisters "below" Anieze are sorting out the situation at the theatre, Index explains to them about the "Liber Al vel Aegis". It was a book that could disrupt the peace they have in the world right now and as a magic book, sealing it would be the one and only way to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Tracing the Amakusa would be difficult and Index suggests that they still have time to search for them, as they'll most probably use "miniaturised pilgrimage" which is a spell that can teleport members from certain places to another, or long teleportation for short. The spell depends heavily on the star movements so they still have time before they use the spell. Later in the night, tents were laid out to prepare for their plan on the Amakusa and when Touma hears a scream from a tent, he accidentally stumbles into Index and Anieze bathing, causing him to be bitten yet again by the ferocious teeth of Index. Touma later has a chat with Stiyl and he too, knows that the Amakusa are Kanzaki's friends and Stiyl reaffirms that he'd fight anyone. Late in the night, Touma was assaulted by Index with her sleepwalking and thinking that everything now was a dream and biting Touma would be alright. Even Anieze was sleepwalking as well and cuddled to Touma. Meanwhile, the Amakusa are already preparing their pilgrimage spell and they hope to show Kanzaki what the Amakusa are like now with magic fused through the different religions.

honestly, i have no idea what the 1st episode was heading to, but that was quickly forgotten with the much much better 2nd episode. more mysteries are cropping up, with the mysterious book of "Liber Al vel Aegis" and its only decoder, Ursula. The Amakusa seems to be a deadly foe, but with Imagine Breaker, who knows? Touma could emerge victorious (well, it most certainly would be). Its great to see Stiyl back again and more sisters being introduced, such as Aineze. plot development wise was great this time round, what exactly is Kanzaki after or her current situation is still unclear, with both sides targetting her, even her Amakusa seems to be against her as well. Would appreciate if they reduce the amount of fs, it was fairly un-needed.

Friday, October 15, 2010

The World God Only Knows 1/2

The story begins with our main protagonist, Keima Katsuragi, happily enjoying his bishoujo games on his PFP... during classes. His teacher didn't let him off easily too and bashed the hell up of his face. Keima, a student, is interested in girls, but not the girls in reality but those in bishoujo games. There is no bishoujo games' heroine that he's not able to "capture" the hearts as of yet. His classmate, Ayumi Takahara, came running towards Keima and collides into him, damaging his PFP as a result while she rammed into a wall. Ayumi asks Keima to clean the rooftop by himself since they were both assigned to the cleaning duty but Ayumi, who is in the track team, has an upcoming sports meet and would want to train for it. Keima refuses but before he could finish his sentence, Ayumi had already been long gone. In the end, Keima was the only one who had to complete his cleaning duty by himself and as he was taking a break, he browsed through the emails, fan-mails to be exact, as he is nicknamed the capturing god by the other bishoujo game players. He then realised a weird mail that sounded like a challenge to him, after stating that there is a girl that they would hope he could "capture" and with his pride on the line, Keima accepts the challenge without hesitation. Something then seemed to have dropped from the sky, throwing Keima off his feet and when he managed to get back his attention, he finds a girl floating down from the sky, thanking Keima for accepting their proposal and flies off with him. Back in the classroom, a disturbed Keima now tries to calm himself down and made matters clear with the girl. The girl, introduces herself as Erucia de Lute Ima, Elsea for short, and she's a girl from hell whose in charged of capturing escaped spirits. Keima is unable to comprehend to the situation and leaves but Elsea stops him, telling him that the previous mail he had received was the contract and if he doesn't adhere to it, his head would be taken. Keima then realises that there was a ring around his neck and it was a prove for the contract. Elsea then brings Keima to the window, telling him that there was already a escaped spirit around and the carrier was Ayumi. Apparently, escaped spirits are souls that have escaped from hell and hides in the depths of the heart, and Elsea believes that through love, the escaped spirit would be forced to escape. Keima then drills the fact into Elsea that he captures girls in the game and not the girls in reality and that disappointed Elsea as she had misunderstood his abilities. Keima requests that since she now knows that it was impossible for him, to remove the ring immediately but Elsea tells him that it could not be done and even if Keima dies, she would lose her head as well as they were bounded by the contract together. Elsea suggests to Keima to use the identical methods to capture a girl in reality but as Keima despises their appearance as compared to the girls in the games, Elsea tries to make them similar which her special robe and Ayumi starts to become slightly more similar to a bishoujo game character, like tying up her hair when she got serious and Keima thinks that its an ideal trait for all track members. Keima thus begins his "capture" the next day through displaying banners with words cheering Ayumi on but was quickly kicked by Ayumi when she saw it as she feels that it was like a revenge for making him clean the rooftop by himself. Keima however believes that love sprouts from more encounters and continues to support Ayumi with banners, balloons etc, declaring openly that he's cheering for her. Ayumi had already began to ignore all his efforts and later when their track seniors came, she was reprimanded for training earlier than them and punished her with numerous rounds around the track. One day, while training, Keima notices something was wrong with Ayumi and while practicing hurdles, Ayumi trips and sprains her ankle. Outside the infirmary, Keima thinks about the current situation he's being tackled with, sports meet, cheering, bad seniors... and he feels that he could already seen the end to it. Keima later asks Ayumi out after sending her a basket of fruits and when he was asked the reason for doing so, Keima told her that he wanted to see her run in the sports meet. Ayumi rebukes him by saying that she had sprained her ankle and would be unable to run, but Keima replies to her, that she wasn't injured at all as she hadn't tie her hair up when she fell, and she had always done so when she was serious. Ayumi then stands back up straight and she really wasn't injured at all. She had wanted to go for the sports meet but was stressed by her seniors. Keima then tells her that it would be alright for her to just run as fast as she can and if it was the rank that matters, she was already number 1, in his heart. Blushing, Ayumi started to throw more fruits at Keima and then discovers a set of new running shoes beneath the fruits. She steps forward and asks if Keima would go and support her in the sports meet, which he agreed. Ayumi edged closer to Keima and while retreating, Keima trips from the steps and as Ayumi grabs him, she kisses him and the escaped spirit is forced out and successfully contained by Elsea. The memories of the capture faded away and it was easier for Keima as well and as things were about to become peaceful again, Elsea arrives in class and introduces herself as Elsea Katsuragi, his "sister".

Following up, Elsea is now transferred into Keima's class and she had also a letter in possession as by being his sister, any escaped spirit in the vicinity would be quickly cleared up. The contract bounded would only be removed after the escaped spirits are all taken cared off in the town. Keima realises that Elsea was about to follow him and live with him and rejects her immediately, however, Keima's mother approaches them and invites Elsea to their house to have a good chat. While having tea, Elsea introduces herself as Elsea and was an illegitimate daughter of Keima's father. Elsea then hands the letter to Keima's mother, saying that it was letter from her deceased mother. After reading the letter, Keima's mother goes off and calls her dear, asking for an explanation for this and in the meantime, starting destroying the chairs within her range. It was partially due to that she was previous from some biker gang in the past. Keima's mother then throws away the phone and hugs both Keima and Elsea, telling them that she would be responsible for them from now. In the town, Keima tells Elsea that he would not accept her as his sister yet as she doesn't have the traits of being one, as quoted by Keima, the BMW traits. 1st, the blood that's flowing in them are not the same, the 2nd, there isn't any memories of siblings, and the 3rd, the "wonichan moe" which describes the love for their brother. Having said all that, Elsea bites Keima's finger, and tells him that now they have the same blood flowing in them and she would really want them to work together to capture all the escaped spirits. Later in the night, Elsea cooks a dish for dinner, which was filled with ingredients from hell and poor Keima was forced to swallow it and it actually tasted good. Upon realising how clean the house was, Elsea reveals that her broom, that had followed her through hundreds of years of cleaning duties, was able to sweep off any amount of dust and while demonstrating, she destroys and wall after accidentally setting the power on the broom to maximum. Keima soon feels the aftermath of the dinner and started having a hell of a diarrhea in the restroom. Later in the bath, Keima thinks that Elsea is starting to meet the BMW requirements and begins to worry. While doing so, the lights went off and he felt something touching his shoulder. He then pulls the shutter down to allow light to enter and sees Elsea in the bath with him. Keima lets out a piercing scream and covers himself out of the bath. Elsea said that he wanted to make up for her mistakes and she also explains that she wasn't trying to fake being a little sister as she really was. She had an elder sister who's a great demon unlike her who was always on cleaning duties and when she was selected to help capture the escaped spirits, she was elated and felt that it was one step closer to being a great demon. Keima seems to understand her feelings and allowed her to stay by his side, brushing it off by saying that it would be the best for the both of them as the faster they get the job done, the faster they could get the rings around their neck removed. The next day in school, Elsea wanted to pass a message to Keima, about keeping the time they had in the bath a secret as it was embarrassing but the message was read aloud by a classmate before passing over to Keima and that brought suspicions about what exactly did happen in the bath. The duo later finds their next target, a rich girl, Mio Aoyama. Keima thinks about her characteristics and planned a route for her. While Elsea was also thinking about the situation, Keima confesses his love for Elsea. Feeling embarrassed, Elsea couldn't walk straight and then she realises that Keima was just trying to find out the different forms of confession to Mio. Keima had took into account that she seems to be an aggressive girl but gentle in the inside and focusing on breaking the outer armour would be the best option. And after testing them out on Elsea and her getting repeatedly lovestruck, Keima took an opportunity to confess to Mio but was silently rejected and beaten up by her bodyguard. Following after their vehicle, the duo discovers that Mio was actually living in an old apartment and what they had initially expected was different from reality.

honestly, this series could be one of the best for this season. animation quality's good, seiyuu's good too :) shan't give much spoilers ahead. pace is moving nicely as well. great series! :D

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

back then there was Kinema-kan



and now, finally, this:



something worth anticipating :)

to end it off properly for the previous season, K-ON!! had their extra episodes which is slotted to be before the last episode. honestly, the end would have already been done wonderfully with their presumably last episode which Tenshi ni Fureta yo. about K-ON!, much have already been covered when their last episode aired so i wouldn't talk about it again. Mitsudomoe, is a wonderful series as well, the 1st few episodes went rather well, with laughs picking up here and there and more of the sister's personalities. It is a fun-to-watch series too. However, it felt that there was too much of misunderstandings in one particular episode (can't really remember which exactly), but luckily that overdose didn't carry on for long :) Following up, another hilarious series: Seitokai Yakuindomo. well, it bears much similarity with Seitokai no Ichizon and both are hilarious in their own ways. slice-of-life series have always grabbed my attention and if you're someone who laughs hard at mature jokes, this is the show for you. Their antics are funny, their jokes are funny, basically, its just hilarious :D could have added more to character developments as well, it felt sad when the relationship hints between Tsuda and Shino went as a misunderstanding D: with that, fall 2010 begins!


FALL 2010

and it begins:

many series have already started running and there are already some that had "grabbed" my attention which i might continue watching / blog in the future. i wouldn't be blogging about the 1st episodes of the series until i reaffirm that i'll continue with it, wouldn't want to leave things hanging around.

starting off:

To Aru Majutsu no Index II

the 1st episode somehow lacked something crucial, there wasn't much to make anyone continue watching this series. honestly, the 1st episode just started off with a mage appearing, out of nowhere, and blast through Touma's house, later kidnaps Index in an attempt to save someone (typical classical setting) and Touma rescues Index later, showed off his Imagine Breaker and said some "cool" sentences. If they're following up with the previous season, at least do try and make something more different... it's just weird watching the 2nd season of Index, just felt very different from the time i watched their 1st season which had more punch to it. would appreciate it if they would quickly bring in the climax from the novels too, it'll be waay more interesting. would see how the next few episodes go =/



Bakuman

adapted from the manga, it sure feels great to see everything animated out. having only just a few episodes for the series and its manga uncompleted, this series would most probably end when their 1st series get serialized. happy ending? not exactly, but you can always follow up with their manga after the series end. a much promising series (i've already known about the storyline too and its great :D) recommended to watch or read the manga as well :)

Shinryaku! Ika Musume

another slice-of-life comedy series for fall 2010. a 3 part story per episode is generally how the episodes run. and it begins with this girl, apparently a squid, wanting to take revenge on humans for harming the sea. she swings her tentacles around, just ordered around, and spits out squid ink .__. as compared to the other similar type of series, this is weaker in its jokes. so its watchable to kill time.

The World God Only Knows

i have been waiting for this! :D from their manga, it was definitely an awesome series to follow and with its animated version, things just can't get any better than this :D according to their OP, it seems that there are only a few targets introduced in the series, and most probably ending before they reach Kusunoki's arc. and Baka to Test's Yoshii returns in this series! awesome combination of seiyuu and character as well. the 1st episode took off with the 1st heroine captured and Elsee entering the school as Keima's sister. story's seem to be moving fast too with 1 heroine captured in just one episode. it might seem rather rushed so i'm hoping for them to slow down just a bit for the future episodes.

For the manga, yet another goddess is revealed, from Kanon this time, named Apollo. Things didn't go well after Kanon apparently remembers her time with Keima and confesses to him as well. However, before more could be explained, Kanon gets attacked by a mysterious person from hell and Apollo seems to have been killed (in just one blow O.O), note "seems". Keima discovers an injured Kanon later and the chapter ends. having another goddess appearing and disappearing immediately could have taken a heavy blow on Keima as well since he had finally found another goddess with Tenri's request. and it'll be slightly disappointing when someone, who remembers about their "capture", will forget about it again =X



SUPERB opening, special song dedicated to the series and amazing start, honestly, i was blown away when the opening started :)

Sora no Otoshimono Forte

as a continuation from the 1st season, more laughs and much much more seriousness. the 1st episode went on with the "Dive" game arc and Sugata starts to know about Synapse and the link between Tomoko's dream with Synapse and with the end of the 1st episode, Astraea lands and heads for Tomoki. The 2nd episode went with the encounter with Astraea but had also brought in the 3 omake chapters from the manga. and with its end, Astraea accidentally reveals about Tomoki's link with Synapse, reaffirming Sugata's perception on it. from its OP too, Chaos seem to be there and i am definitely waiting for that climax to arrive. "Let's play dolly..."

for the manga, after Hiyori's arc, i was hoping more of the connection between the angels and the downers and also the "unreal" humans around Tomoki. Could Tomoki be unreal and his real self was the one on top of all the angels? (well, its possible...) their latest 2 chapters were funny but at the same time, seems unneeded too.



"Let's Play Dolly..."

MM!

another comedy series that revolves around 2-3 students who had went to the special club to receive some help to "cure" their special illnesses, ranging from being a masochist, being afraid of men and also cross-dressing. Interesting series from the start, nothing much to talk about too, seems more like in the center of being a slice-of-life to a normal series.

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tactically, among the series, the series that i should be covering would be:

To Aru Majutsu no Index II
The World God Only Knows
Bakuman
MM!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

will start updating again around tomorrow :)